Thoughts for Thursday - The Changing Seasons...

I may have mentioned that Summer is my favorite season...or maybe I haven't.  Either way, it is!  Living in the northeast, it's the only time of the year that I really enjoy to the fullest.  Green grass, warm weather, sunshine, etc... I love it all!

However, with that said, I have to confess that Halloween is my favorite holiday... and well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't love Autumn!  Mostly, I love the colors of Autumn; burgundy, dark reds, purples, oranges, brownes, etc...   These colors just seem rich, warm, and inviting to me, even though I know it means cooler nights and shorter days are ahead.  *sigh*

Truthfully, I really think it's Halloween that gets me through... I love the thrill of decorating my house, dressing up, and going to Halloween parties (or hosting our own)!  I think about Halloween months before it even arrives.  I spend the better part of the year thinking about decorating ideas; ways to make my house and yard look spookier than last year. 

So, here we are, about two months away from my favorite holiday!  I can already feel the anticipation building as I plot out my Halloween plans!  Stores have started to stock Halloween/Autumn decorations and different online sites have started posting deals... It's so exciting!  So, of course when I headed over to Etsy.com today, I was momentarily speechless when I saw all the amazing Halloween things they had displayed on their homepage!  I mean, seriously, did they know I was going to visit their site today?  Do they know about my obsession?  They must, because they shoved it right in my face!  LOL...and I loved it! ;)

Here are a few Halloween scenes/decoration/ideas that I just simply adore:

Ok, in an effort to not overwhelm you, I won't continue... but seriously, just know that I love Halloween! 

So, although I'm a quite sad that Summer is coming to an end and quickly, as each morning seems cooler than the last, I'm happy to know that Halloween is right around the corner! 

So tell me, what is your favorite season/holiday? 

Random Ramblings and Such...

I haven't posted in a few days...maybe even a week or so.  So, I just wanted to take a moment to mention a few things... more appropriately, random ramblings and such...

On a daily basis, I read blogs; many blogs!  Most of the blogs that I read are from a group of parents that have been chosen as Featured Bloggers for WhattoExpect.com.  These bloggers are very prolific!  They blog about their journey to parenthood, their pregnancy experiences, their children, their families, etc... and I read them.. each and every one of them.  It's my job and I enjoy it.  The content is quite helpful for other parents or parents-to-be also.  If you are ever looking for parenting blogs, head over to check out this fantastic group of bloggers!

Yesterday, I felt an earthquake.  It originated in Virginia...but was definitely felt here in the Berkshires!  My desk & chair shook.  It reminded me of the earthquake we felt in 2002 (my first experience)...so, I knew right away what was happening!  It was frightening and exciting all at the same time!

Today, I saw a few pictures on my friend's blog of a beach in Florida and now I have this overwhelming feeling of wanting to get out of here and head south!  I lived in Florida when I was younger. I haven't been back there in many years; almost 19 years to be exact.  I've always thought about wanting to go back at some point in my life, but right now, at this very moment, I have this real sense of urgency to get to the south shore!  I'm going to have to figure out some way to make this happen within the next 6 months of my life!

Tomorrow, I might bring the kiddos to the carnival that just popped up in town.  We'll see how things go, but I know as soon as I pick them up, they'll beg to go.  

Anyway, so there you have it... my random ramblings for this Wednesday night.  I'd like to promise that I 'll be back on track with this again soon, but that's never going to happen... my life is random...my thoughts are random... and well, I'm random.  So, truth be told, this blog will probably never be as consistent as it was planned in my head to be.  I hope you don't mind!  ;)

Until next time...

Yesterday I Helped Chaperone A Field Trip

I haven't chaperoned a field trip or anything in years.  Not since before my daughter started going to elementary school, she'll be heading into 4th, so when presented with the opportunity to chaperone a field trip with my daughter's summer program to Magic Wings, a butterfly conservatory (Can I get a "woohoo"?), I knew I just had to do it.  (Assuming I could get the day off, of course!  Which by the way, panned out in my favor.)

So, chaperone a field trip, I did.  And really, it wasn't all that bad.  There were a lot of kids, so it was a bit noisy, but I was only assigned three kids, one of them being my own lovely "L".  So, really, two kids.  Both of whom were really well behaved, so I felt privileged!  (Plus it helped that they were a few of the older kids in the group.)

The butterfly conservatory is a little over an hour away from where we are located, so after the ride, we went right in to see the butterflies.  According to the "guide" there is usually 3,000 butterflies at any given time and trust me when I say they were everywhere!  You could not turn around without have a butterfly flutter either right in your face or right past you.  It's truly incredible.  


So, instead of trying to explain the experience to you, I hope to be able to show you using a few pictures that I took.

Oh and there are coy fish too!  -- We also spotted a few different birds; quail, parrots, & other small birds.

Isn't it so lovely!  There were what felt like millions of butterflies, all over the place.  I simply adore this place.  A few of the kids weren't so eager to be any where near some of the bigger butterflies, but most of them enjoyed the butterfly conservatory just as much as I did!

Truth be told, I've been here before... several times actually, and I enjoy it every time!  Do you have a local (or semi-local) butterfly conservatory?   If so, I recommend visiting!  It's a lot of fun!

Until next time... keep fluttering...

Tunes for Tuesday - Do It Duet Style!

I love a good duet!  I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before.  To me, there's nothing better than two people bouncing off of eachother in harmony, while weaving melodies through the air!

Over time there have been many fabulous duet songs, and some not so fabulous, but we won't talk about those in this post.  ;)

In this post, I want to talk about a few of the duets that I simply love!  So, let's get to it, shall we?

These first few will be duets that I'm sure you'll recognize right away.  These songs have been around for a while and will continue to stand strong!  The others listed may just find their way to your favorites list, just as they did mine.

(You might have to hold the Control button when you click the links so they will open in a new window.  Sorry about that!)

Jackson - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
If I Were A Carpenter - Johnny Cash & June Carter Cash
Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys - Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
Stop Dragging My Heart Around - Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty
Picture - Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow
Whiskey Lullaby - Allison Krauss & Brad Paisley
Please read the Letter - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
Poison & Wine - The Civil Wars
Cheater Cheater - Joey & Rory
Cruisin - Huey Lewis & Gwyneth Paltrow

So, there you have it.  My Top 10 Duet List!

Do you have a favorite duet that you would like to share with me?  If so, please leave me a comment so that I may enjoy it too! ;)

Until next time... Do it duet!

Muffin Tin Dinner of the Breakfast Kind

I've seen many delicious posts recently displaying various muffin tin recipe techniques.  Matter of fact, my friend and fellow mom blogger, MomEandtheJoyful3, publishes a weekly muffin tin meal post in her blog.

So, I decided to give it a try.  Besides I needed an opportunity to find a new recipe for our weekly dinner rotation.  Because I'm vegetarian, we tend to eat a lot of the same types of foods, so it's nice to serve it in a different way!  :)

My muffin tin meal can be best categorized as breakfast food, as it contained a lot of the typical ingredients that you would see on a breakfast menu at your local diner.  So, let's begin!

Ingredients:

• Bisquick Buttermilk Biscuit Mix
• 5 Eggs
• Milk
• 2 medium potatoes
• 1 small head of broccoli
• Cheddar Cheese 
• 4 cloves garlic & 1/2 small onion
• Olive Oil
• Seasonings (I just added black pepper & a little rosemary)

(Adjust amounts to suit your family size.  This recipe yields 12 muffins; 6 of each.)

Preheat oven to biscuit mix specifications (I set mine to 400 degrees).  

Wash and dice two medium potatoes into cubes (or whatever your preference) and add to frying pan.  Coat lightly with olive oil and seasonings and set on medium high heat.

Wash and cut broccoli into small pieces.  Place in quart pan with 3 - 4 cups water.  Bring to boil.  Allow to boil until broccoli becomes soft.  Once boiled, drain and place broccoli into cold water.

Dice onion and garlic.  Set aside for now.  Add to frying pan with potatoes once they start becoming softer and crispy on the outside.  (Don't add to early or they become hard fried chunks)

Prepare biscuit mix according to directions.  Coat each muffin cup with a non stick spray/butter/oil.  Pinch one inch balls of prepared biscuit mix and push into the bottom of each muffin space.  Spread the dough to cover the entire bottom.

Once you have dough in each muffin cup, add your ingredients.  Add potatoes to six of the cups and broccoli to the remaining six.  Fill each cup to just below the brim and press down slightly.

Scramble the five eggs with a splash of milk (chose the amount of your preference) and pour this egg mixture slowly into each muffin cup.

Place into pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

Removed from oven.  Add cheddar cheese to the tops of each muffin and return to the oven for an additional 2 minutes.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Carefully pull "muffins" from cups.  You may have to run a spatula around the edges of each muffin to work the mix away from the muffin walls.

Enjoy!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So, there you have it.  These were a hit at my house!  "D" & "L" both gobbled them up!  

I enjoyed them with a little salsa, sour cream, & hot sauce.  

These will definitely be a part of our regular dinner options, especially once I discover new crusts and stuffing ideas.  I'm thinking spinach & feta soon!  :)

If you know of any good links to other muffin tin recipes, please pass them my way so that I may try other's recipes!  

Tunes for Tuesday - My Son's Band

Usually I've found some new artist that I haven't heard from before for this weekly (sporadic at best) post, but today, I want to share with you my son's band.

Let me start by saying, the members are only 14-15 years old and they've only been practicing together for about half a year or so, maybe a little longer, but not by much.

Practice happens here at our house every Monday night.  You may recall a previous post titled Monday Night Madness, well, that was also about this same band.  But at that time, they were calling themselves something entirely different.  Having gone through several band name changes since then, they are now called ShitZoo Ballistics!

Now, as a parent, I don't *love* the name... but as a hip Mom who wants to allow her teen child to express himself (within reason), I don't see that it's too harmful.  However, I do hope that some day the band members will go for something a little more appealing.  ;)

So, for this Tunes for Tuesday post, I present to you ShitZoo Ballistics:



Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, it's a punk rock blend! Sometimes loud enough to split your eardrums!

So, if you like them, head on over to their Facebook Fan Page to show them some support:
https://www.facebook.com/ShitZoo.Ballistics

Until next time...

When I Get Bored...

When I find myself overcome with boredom, I tend to do things that just seem silly or meaningless.  Sometimes I get creative, sometimes I read, sometimes I try to play guitar, or sometimes I just do whacked out things... like this:

Yes, I know it's not Halloween... who cares, right?  I was bored and this is what I thought would be fun to do.  My son seems to think I belong in the Addams Family.  I don't disagree, but I don't agree either.  LOL...  Truth is, I might try to do something similar to this for Halloween, so I wanted to try it out now to see if it's even something I can manage...  And well, looks like I can... sort of.  

Maybe next time I get bored, I'll try a different rendition of this.  We'll see.

Anyway, what sort of things do you tend to do when you get bored?